The Bargee

A script by Galton & Simpson the creators of the seminal Steptoe & Son. Featuring Harry H Corbett, one of the stars of that sitcom. Add some lovely shots of barges and canals, examine a vanishing way of life that is commercial transport by canal. It should be a sure fire hit but the tepid story is a miss.

Like many movies emerging from that time period it has a bawdy outlook. Corbett plays Hemel, the bargee with a girl waiting for him at each canal stop. He loves them and leaves them sometimes faster if the M word is used. M stands for marriage.

Ronnie Barker plays his amiable but dim colleague. Eric Sykes plays an improbable posh sailor who is incompetent with boats and who is always getting in Hemel's way.

Trouble starts for Hemel when one of his nubile conquests falls pregnant and her father demands to know the name of the father.

There really is not much of a story, it feels episodic and comes across as a bad Carry On film. At least Barker is memorable, he would find fame working with another Corbett.